


Lucky Little Copper

by docs_pupil



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Friendship, Funny, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Science Fiction, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-11 22:04:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7909288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/docs_pupil/pseuds/docs_pupil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The simplest gestures can have the greatest meaning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lucky Little Copper

**Author's Note:**

> (Author's Note: I've begun wondering why they didn't add Pre-War spare change to the game. Also, "penny, +1 luck.")

Not a month ago, she walked in to Novac with nothing but a floating robot and a pistol at her side. Then, with no other incentive other than to help, she found his wife's killer, and stopped the ghoul invasion of their sleepy little township from REPCONN. He realizes he knows next to nothing about her, yet here he is, watching her shovel dirt from under a train.

"Rex!" She waves the half-robotized dog over to the defunct train car. "Come here, boy!"

The animal happily trots over to the girl covered in dirt.

From where he's standing, he can't hear what she said to the dog to get him so excited, but she points to the hole under the rusty train tire and he proceeds to send dirt flying in all directions with his frantic clawing. Finally winded, her animal companion nuzzles around in the loose dirt and comes away with a dusty, rag-covered femur of someone long dead.

Curiously, she drops to her knees, carefully poking around the bones for something in particular.

Boone folds his arms across his chest, wondering if she is one of those crack-pot "prospectors" who digs in the rubble all day. He can hear her loud "ha ha!” even from as many feet away. The young man shakes his head, leaning back against the Joshua tree, facing away from her.

The Courier runs up to her new friend, gently tugging at his shirtsleeve. "Boone, gimme your hand."

"Why?"

"I can't tell you, it'll jinx it. Just gimme your hand."

The dog sitting at his feet whimpers, pawing at his pants leg.

He unfolds his arms, showing her his open palm.

She carefully places a round object in the middle of his hand, folds his calloused fingers over it, then mutters something before blowing over his closed hand. "There. It's yours now."

He furrows his brow, opening his hand to scrutinizing the piece of worthless copper in his palm.

The awkward silence between them makes her think he doesn't know what she's done. She clears her throat nervously. "I saw it in a book once about old money from before the Great War. It's a thing called a penny. It was run over by a train and didn't bend."

"So."

"If you keep it with you, it'll give you good luck when you travel."

Boone stays silent for a moment, still confused. "Why would I need this?"

"Because you said your bad luck was going to catch up to you. I thought maybe if I gave you some good luck, the bad luck would have to find someone else.”

He turns up his eagle eyes to her now, seeing her smiling like an idiot. Unable to make out why she does these random kindnesses for other people, he takes her at face value for the moment. "Thanks." He tucks the object into one of the pouches strung across his chest.

Resting her shovel on her shoulder, she heads back toward the railway line, following it once more into the mountains.

Rex brings along his new chewing bone, and Boone contemplates the motivation behind her "lucky penny".


End file.
